


Don’t wake Emma

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Emma and Ted fight over something trivial. Paul doesn’t want to be dragged into it. Unfortunately he is
Relationships: Paul Matthews/ Emma Perkins
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Don’t wake Emma

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic from the unfinished drafts circa abt 2019 November so this is a classic paulkins fic haha

“Wake up Emma and you’re dead, Ted,” Paul hissed, his eyes fixed on his coworker to lock him in place. 

Ted held up his hands in defence, not even sure if he could open his mouth to speak. “Huh? Do I have to stay here now?” He whispered.

Emma had accidentally fallen asleep half-way through one of Ted’s long, trivial stories about the quarterly finances. Her head was tucked under Paul’s arm and resting against his chest, her mouth ever so slightly ajar. 

“Yeah. You do. She’s a really light sleeper, if you open the front door she’ll wake up,” he said firmly.

“So I can’t go out the backdoor?”

Paul shook his head. “Oh, come on. You don’t have anywhere to be. She’s had such a rough week she just needs some sleep. Don’t wake her.”

“You’re kidding me,” sweat trickled down Ted’s forehead. “You think I’m gonna stay here?”

“Please keep your voice down. Don’t stand up. You’ll wake her. She barely gets enough sleep as it is, she needs this Ted, please! She’ll wake up in twenty or thirty minutes. She’s just had a bad week okay? Let her have it.”

Ted very stiffly shuffled back into his seat, cupping his hands in his lap. “So you just want us to... sit here now?” 

Paul nodded, nonchalant. “Yeah. Just pretend you’re on a train, sit down and be quiet for just twenty minutes, please.”

Ted huffed, pulling out his phone. “I’m not staying here forever. If she’s not up in half an hour I’m leaving regardless.” He’d give her that, at least, but he was headed home soon anyways and he hadn’t planned for this.

Paul gave him a skeptic glance, his arm curling around Emma and easing her down into his lap. “You’ll leave when you can leave.”

“Am I being held hostage?” Ted snickered in disbelief. “Just so Emma can get half an hour of sleep!?” He hadn’t heard Paul be so stern before.

“Shh! You aren’t being held hostage, don’t be dramatic. You’re doing her a favour!”   
He ran his fingers through her hair and she smiled, an unintelligible mumble bubbling past her lips. “Wow,” Paul grinned, his smile stretching so wide his eyes started to water. “Isn’t she cute?”

Ted squinted, ‘Emma’ and ‘cute’ weren’t words that usually belonged in the same sentence in his opinion. “You actually love her, don’t you? Do you two ever like, fight?”

Paul shook his head and shrugged, his smile ever-present. “Emma and I don’t fight too often. We’re pretty good at getting over ourselves,” he tried to keep his giggling quiet. “We get along great.”

“How? All I ever hear about her is that she’s at work or at school, does she even have the time to get along?” 

“Shhhh,” Paul hushed him. “That’s what everyone says, but we have lots of time! I mean, mostly around dinner time and everything. We both stay up kinda late.” 

Ted scratched his neck, grasping for conversational topics all of a sudden. “Yeah? You keep her company when you’re studying?” 

He shrugged, giving an uncertain nod. “I’m just one of those people who can’t fall asleep I guess,” he chuckled as he played with Emma’s hair. “I honestly don’t get much sleep either, but honestly listening to her read puts me straight to bed.”

“Ah. That’s what all the coffee is for,” he awkwardly filled in the blanks out loud. 

“She’s up studying, usually. It’s stupid how much they expect you to read!”

“How much time can you even spend learning about how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?” he snickered, easing back into the couch. 

“Huh?” Emma blinked open her eyes, sticking her hand out to ease herself back up. 

“Oh, good going Ted, you woke her with all your noise!” Paul frowned, rubbing her back.

Emma shook her head and cleared her throat, rubbing her eyes and slumping back against the couch for a moment all to clear her head. “No, were you just talking about mitochondria?” She yawned.

“Not really, I was just saying-“

“Mitochondria is plural dumbass,” she corrected him. “You mean the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell.” Her face scrunched up in confusion for a moment and she pushed herself off Paul. “And also- you can’t even say that, it’s just such a broad overview that like,” she made a wide, circling gestures with her hand. “You can’t say that.” 

“Well thanks for that,” he gave her a ridiculing look. “I’ll keep it in mind for my next Biology thesis.” He couldn’t decide between snapping and grunting, he hadn’t expected her to wake up. And if she was going to, she didn’t have to be so obnoxious about it. “What’s it matter?” 

“Uh, it does matter. You don’t need to be writing a thesis for it you should just know that from high school, if not general knowledge, dumbass.”

“Hey! I’m not a dumbass! I’m just not a nerd!” He fired back.

“I’m not a nerd you’re just not smart!” She countered, spitting. 

Paul tried to hush her. “I told you she was having a rough week, Ted!” He held a hand to Emma’s shoulder to comfort her. 

He growled. “Yeah maybe I should’a just let you sleep! You’re just being full of yourself, mitochondrion or whatever is not common knowledge! Who retains anything from school by the time they’re our age?”

She rolled her eyes with a cold scowl. “Buddy, don’t pick a fight with me in my house. You’re the one who bored me to sleep with your rambling in the first place, Ted! At least my stories are important!”

“That’s a long shot!” He stood up, putting down his drink which Emma glanced at in disgust. “Fuck you, Emma.”

“Fuck you, Ted!”

“Like we wanna hear anything about cells, right Paul?” 

Paul waved his hands. “Please don’t drag me into this, guys.”

“You brought them up in the first place! That was practically an invite for me to correct you.” Emma stood up too, stretching up to the tips of her toes and leaning forward. “You’re just pissed because you were wrong, Paul, you knew the difference don’t you?” 

Paul let out an anxious laugh. “Well, uh...”

“Paul!” Emma let out a betrayed gasp. “You stay up with me all the time! I’ve told you about them, you know!” 

“Don’t get me dragged into this, please, Emma,” he repeated, standing up too in an attempt to diffuse the situation. 

“No, Paul. Go ahead and tell me! Am I boring you?” She put her hands on her hips, despite being a whole head shorter than the both of them she was still the most intimidating. 

“Yeah, what did you mean earlier when you said listening to her talk about cells put you to sleep? Because they’re boring right?”

“What?” Her jaw dropped, turning to Paul. “Yeah! What did you mean by that!?” 

“No, no, that’s not what I-“

“Yeah Paul!” Ted chimed in. “Settle it for us, is she boring you with just how common this biology knowledge is? Are you not thoroughly entertained?” They both turned to him, Emma swinging a bothered fist at his shoulder. 

“Guys!” He tried. “We don’t have to fight! Let’s just-“

“Paul!” They both drowned out his sentence with their synchronised chorus. 

“We want the truth!” Ted declared. “Settle it, Paul!”

“Yeah! You listen to me talk about cells so at least you know the mitochondria thing! Give me that point at least if you deny me everything else!” 

Paul was feeling very cornered all of a sudden. He tapped his fists together on top of each other, starting up a repetitive motion. “Uh, guys, maybe you should go back to fighting each other.” 

“No, Paul,” Emma grabbed his arm. “Tell me right now,” there was a sternness and calmness in her voice that frightened Paul quite a bit.

“Uh, uh, well. Yes. I’m sorry Ted, I do know the mitochondria mitochondrion thing, and yes, it is something I learnt in high school, but in your defence Ted Emma just jogged my memory, and um, it is a little hard. I don’t get biology, so I never really focus on retaining it, so I fall asleep because I’m not really interested, but in your defence Emma it’s always really helped! And I love staying up and keeping you company, and, uh, so, you know”, he was tapping his fists a lot faster now, starting to bump them together carelessly, watching his audience go through a range of expressions. 

Ted and Emma exchanges a glance.

“What-whats that then?” Ted asked, holding out a finger. “One point each? I think I got a half point in there.”

“Yeah no I didn’t get that. I swear that was at least two for me. Paul, why do you have to speak so fast?” Emma gave him a incredulous look, but at least she was mad about something else now. “Paul? Just tell us who the winner is,” Emma asked.

Paul’s face dropped in distraught, already exhausted from that very anxiety inducing spiel he just went off on. 

“Yeah, Paul.”

“No,” he just shook his head. “No. I really don’t think I should,” he formally backed out, sitting back down on the couch too to signal he was done. Perhaps if he backed out now while he was ahead he could still be a winner in this hopeless argument. 

But Emma and Ted turned to him with a helpless sigh, Emma with her hands pressed to her forehead, Ted fishing out his keys from his pocket. And with one final groan they declared the loser of the argument. “Fuck you, Paul.”


End file.
